What is Controller in Laravel?

In Laravel, a controller is a class that handles the logic for processing incoming requests and returning responses. 

Controllers play a crucial role in the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern that Laravel follows. They help to keep your application organized and separate the concerns of handling HTTP requests, processing data, and rendering views.

Creating a Controller:

To create a controller in Laravel, you can use the Artisan command-line tool. Open your terminal or command prompt and navigate to your Laravel project's root directory.

php artisan make:controller YourControllerName

This command will create a new controller file in the app/Http/Controllers directory.

Example:

Let's consider a simple example of a controller with a method that returns a view. Open the newly created controller file, which should be named something like YourControllerName.php, and define a method inside it.

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class YourControllerName extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        return view('your-view-name');
    }
}

In the example above:

• YourControllerName is the name you provided when creating the controller.
• The index method is a sample method that returns a view named 'your-view-name'. You would replace this with the actual logic you need.

Routing to the Controller:

Once your controller is created, you need to define a route that points to it. Open the routes/web.php file and add a route.

use App\Http\Controllers\YourControllerName;

Route::get('/your-route', [YourControllerName::class, 'index']);

Replace 'your-route' with the actual route you want, and 'index' with the method name inside your controller.